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The FBI Is Closing in on the Remaining Holdouts of Oregon Standoff

It’s been well over a month since Ammon Bundy led an armed protest to occupy the Malheur Wildlife Refuge. Quite a bit has transpired since then, including the shooting death of their spokesman LaVoy Finicum, and the arrest of the militia’s leadership. After Bundy was taken in by the FBI, it looked like the armed standoff was going to dissipate peacefully.

Through his lawyer, Bundy told the remaining militiamen to stand down and go home to their families, which most of them agreed to do. Within days, the majority of the men trickled out of the wildlife refuge, until only a handful of holdouts remained.

The four people who remain at the refuge, David Fry, Jeff Banta, and Sean and Sandy Anderson, have yet to comply with either Bundy or the authorities. Every message and video they have posted since Bundy’s arrest, have all indicated that they have no intention of surrendering. If anything they have dug in deeper, and constructed makeshift barricades around the property.

So it’s obvious that they are committed to their cause. The only question that remains, is what are they going to do if the feds decide they’ve had enough, and move in to arrest them? Are they really willing to fight the FBI? Unfortunately, we may be about to find out.

The FBI has surrounded the four remaining protesters occupying the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Oregon, local media reported.

According to the Oregonian, the FBI has placed armored vehicles around the area where the occupiers are located.

“At this time, the FBI has moved to contain the remaining occupiers by placing agents at barricades both immediately in front of and behind the area where the occupiers are camping.”

“Negotiations between the occupiers and the FBI continue. No shots have been fired,” the FBI said in the statement.

The FBI stated that the situation began when one of the remaining protesters had ridden an ATV beyond the barricades set up by the occupiers. The individual was spotted by the FBI, but as agents tried to approach the driver, he turned around and sped back to the refuge.

The details are still vague, but it seems that the FBI simply moved in as the ATV returned to camp. It isn’t clear what the driver intended to do, or what he or she did to convince the FBI to move in. Here is the excuse that a FBI spokesman provided to the media.

In a statement released in the middle of the showdown, Greg Bretzing, the FBI’s special agent in charge in Oregon, said: “It has never been the FBI’s desire to engage these armed occupiers in any way other than through dialogue, and to that end, the FBI has negotiated with patience and restraint in an effort to resolve the situation peacefully.

But, Bretzing said, “we reached a point where it became necessary to take action in a way that best ensured the safety of those on the refuge, the law enforcement officers who are on scene, and the people of Harney County who live and work in this area.”

Whatever the case may be, the situation is rapidly escalating in Oregon. And this escalation isn’t just between the occupiers and the FBI. According to the official Bundy Ranch Facebook Page, Cliven Bundy is on his way to urns, Oregon right now. The post reads “WAKE UP AMERICA! WAKE UP WE THE PEOPLE! WAKE UP PATRIOTS! WAKE UP MILITA! IT’S TIME!!!!! CLIVEN BUNDY IS HEADING TO THE HARNEY COUNTY RESOURCE CENTER IN BURNS OREGON. One of the comments made by the Facebook group, tells followers to “Meet Cliven at the resource center, go now.”

If you ask me, it looks like the occupation of the Malheur Wildlife Refuge is coming to an end. Unfortunately, the possibility of it ending violently has never seemed greater.

Joshua Krause is a reporter, writer and researcher at The Daily Sheeple. He was born and raised in the Bay Area and is a freelance writer and author. You can follow Joshua’s reports at Facebook or on his personal Twitter. Joshua’s website is Strange Danger .